The mood turns darker, from longing to torment, in the fourth song, Aufenthalt (Resting Place). Enduring nature’s wrath, the poet suffers from some unnamed torment, which to him resemble the wild tempest around him.
Cast in the bleak and mournful key of E minor, Schubert’s setting opens with a doleful melody in the low register of the piano while the storms rages above with incessant triplets. In contrast, the vocal melody of the first stanza has a forced resolve, as if the poet has determined to accept his pitiful fate but has yet to find any consolation. Without breaking the pattern of the accompaniment, Schubert achieves a marvelous example of text-painting, depicting the poor man’s tears in the second stanza with the occasional slurred notes and the alternation of chords and bare octaves. An even more poignant moment of sorrow is achieved in the shift towards D major at the word “Thränen” (“tears”), and the sudden sidestep into B minor following it and before any resolution in the major key can occur.
The third stanza modulates into the key of G major, yet the music here is just as anguished despite the overall dominance of the major mode. At its conclusion, we hear the beating of the poet’s own heart (“So unaufhörlich mein Herze schlägt” / “So incessantly beats my heart”) in the punctuated tonics heard in the bass. The fourth stanza returns to the music of the second as the poet declares his pain as everlasting as the mountain’s core. Taking liberty with Rellstab’s poem in order to achieve a greater emotional effect, Schubert reprises the first stanza which builds to a powerful and grief-stricken climax. He repeats the stanza again, but this final time omits the third line. This last utterance is set to the bass melody not heard since the beginning of the song, echoed again by the piano, and brings the song to a desolate close. Joseph DuBose
This recording of Schwanengesang was made in the 1950s.
Classical Music | Baritone
Franz Schubert
Aufenthalt, from Schwanengesang Play
Recorded on 12/31/1969, uploaded on 01/22/2014
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Aufenthalt
The mood turns darker, from longing to torment, in the fourth song, Aufenthalt (Resting Place). Enduring nature’s wrath, the poet suffers from some unnamed torment, which to him resemble the wild tempest around him.
Cast in the bleak and mournful key of E minor, Schubert’s setting opens with a doleful melody in the low register of the piano while the storms rages above with incessant triplets. In contrast, the vocal melody of the first stanza has a forced resolve, as if the poet has determined to accept his pitiful fate but has yet to find any consolation. Without breaking the pattern of the accompaniment, Schubert achieves a marvelous example of text-painting, depicting the poor man’s tears in the second stanza with the occasional slurred notes and the alternation of chords and bare octaves. An even more poignant moment of sorrow is achieved in the shift towards D major at the word “Thränen” (“tears”), and the sudden sidestep into B minor following it and before any resolution in the major key can occur.
The third stanza modulates into the key of G major, yet the music here is just as anguished despite the overall dominance of the major mode. At its conclusion, we hear the beating of the poet’s own heart (“So unaufhörlich mein Herze schlägt” / “So incessantly beats my heart”) in the punctuated tonics heard in the bass. The fourth stanza returns to the music of the second as the poet declares his pain as everlasting as the mountain’s core. Taking liberty with Rellstab’s poem in order to achieve a greater emotional effect, Schubert reprises the first stanza which builds to a powerful and grief-stricken climax. He repeats the stanza again, but this final time omits the third line. This last utterance is set to the bass melody not heard since the beginning of the song, echoed again by the piano, and brings the song to a desolate close. Joseph DuBose
This recording of Schwanengesang was made in the 1950s.
Courtesy of YouTube
More music by Franz Schubert
Der Wanderer an den Mond
Tränenregen, from Die schöne Müllerin
Moment musicaux, D. 780 No. 4
Erlkönig
Piano Sonata D. 958, Finale: Allegro
Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 30, D617
Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 899
Notturno
Impromptu Op 90 N° 3
Standchen, Lieder for Flute and Piano
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